The Adidas shoes that helped break the marathon's 2-hour barrier

Watch Kipchoge break 2 hours in the marathon

The feat was once considered impossible, but one of the world's greatest marathoners got to work (with the help of a team of scientists and some of the world's most elite distance runners) to break that boundary in Vienna in 2019. The final stretch of the run is an emotional moment for Kipchoge, who doesn't even appear to be winded.

Sabastian Sawe holds the world record for the marathon

Kenya's Sabastian Sawe won the 2026 London Marathon with a time of 1:59:30. In the same race, Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha ran 1:59:41. The two men were the first (and, to date, the only) runners to officially break the two-hour mark.

Some Nike shoes are actually making runners too fast

In 2018, Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge lowered the world marathon record to 2:01:39 in a pair of Nike Vaporflys. The unusually thick running shoes sparked controversy around the shoe regulations for professional runners.

Eliud Kipchoge broke the 2-hour mark in a 2019 exhibition

In 2019, Kenya's Kipchoge ran 1:59:40.2, though it was part of an exhibition that included numerous aids—including elite runners cutting his wind and a laser marking the necessary pace—not permitted in officially sanctioned events. As such, it is not eligible for the world record.

The marathon is only getting more popular

The marathon has become a part of popular culture, with races in nearly every major city. The largest is the New York City Marathon, which started in 1970. Over 55,000 runners participated in the 2024 race. Its popularity doesn’t appear to be slowing, with younger generations increasingly lacing up their shoes for the race of a lifetime.

Frank Shorter was the first American to win the 26.2-mile Olympic marathon

The running legend became the first American to win the 26.2-mile Olympic marathon in 1972 at 2:21:19. The televised race contributed to a nationwide running boom and helped popularize the event.

The modern marathon’s arbitrary distance is thanks to the British royal family

In 1908, the London Games set the marathon distance to 26.2 miles to meet the British royal family’s request that the race start at Windsor Castle and end at their royal box. In 1921, that arbitrary distance became the official length for the marathon.

Runners typically burn 2,600 calories during a marathon

They also burn between 5-10 pounds of water weight, often feel more focused and elated (thanks to increased neurotransmitters), and, oddly enough, temporarily grow about a half-inch shorter due to back muscles tensing.

One ethnic group in Kenya is responsible for most of the country’s running success

Both the men’s and women’s world record holders in the marathon hail from the same region in Kenya. They’re Kalenjins, a minority ethnic group responsible for nearly 73% of the country’s Olympic gold medals in running. Studies have determined that the success is thanks to high-altitude training, a healthy diet, and a tradition of excellence.

An impostor convinced Frank Shorter he’d lost the gold

The 1972 marathon at the Munich Games featured a dramatic finish, thanks to someone posing as a competitor entering the stadium before Shorter. The stunt confused Shorter and the crowd (and enraged the American television announcers) as he entered the final stretch.

Chris Nikic is the first person with Down syndrome to complete several marathons

In March 2024, Chris Nikic finished the Tokyo Marathon in 5:39:41. That was the final step towards his ultimate goal of earning the Abbott World Marathon Majors Six Star Finisher distinction. It recognizes runners who have finished Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York.

Women were prohibited from the Boston Marathon, so Bobbi Gibb snuck in

Race directors assumed women could not handle the physical demands of the race. In 1966, Bobbi Gibb hid in the bushes near the starting line, then hopped in the race after it began, and became the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon, albeit unofficially.

Computer pioneer Alan Turing was also an elite runner

Alan Turing is credited with helping to found modern computer science, in addition to cracking the Nazi code known as Enigma. Beyond these world-historical achievements, the British mathematician also nearly represented his country in the Olympics in the marathon, running just 11 minutes slower than the eventual gold recipient at the 1948 games. Read more on this lesser-known aspect of the man here.

'The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.'

- Roger Bannister (1929-2018)

The beer mile blends running and drinking

The event requires competitors to drink a 12-ounce beer for every lap around the track. It may sound like fun (or a nightmare, depending on your disposition), but for some it's a serious business, with an annual world championship.

World records are often broken later in the day—and scientists wonder if muscle clocks explain the difference

For reasons that are still not entirely clear, on average, people tend to lift more weight and achieve other exercise feats later in the day. Theories to explain this discrepancy include muscle clocks are at peak performance in the afternoon and that there's morning-to-afternoon variation in core body temperature, hormones, and neural activity.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation

Ewen snagged the win for "most balloons blown up in one hour by an individual" in 2011 with 582 balloons, and then reclaimed the title in 2017 with 910 balloons inflated in just 60 minutes.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed as Mario at the Olympics

In a 2016 ceremony at that year’s Summer Games in Rio, Abe dressed as Super Mario to celebrate his country hosting the 2020 Olympics. It was a logical move: The character is one of the most recognizable characters in the world and someone who’s now associated with Japanese culture.

Chuck Taylors were once the definitive basketball sneakers

Before Michael Jordan and the Air Jordans became the iconic shoe of the league, Chuck Taylor high tops were considered the best basketball sneaks. Need proof? The 1936 US Olympic team wore matching Converse.

F1 pit crews change tires in less than 3 seconds

Roughly 16 people cooperate in a highly coordinated sequence of events to swap tires mid-race without losing the driver any time. Watch a slowed-down explanation of each person's job in the crucial pit lane moment.

Do wearables help those with chronic disease?

The integration of wearable technology in healthcare has promised significant benefits for chronic disease management, yet the actual impact remains underexplored. This systematic review published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research...

What was the London Beer Flood of 1814?

On this day 209 years ago, a 15-foot-high wave of beer roared through the streets of an impoverished London neighborhood, killing eight people. Read this beer historian's account of the tragedy to learn more. The beer had burst from the nearby...

After Title IX, the University of Chicago advertised a women's academic-athletic scholarship

There were athletic scholarships for women before Title IX, but the University of Chicago’s Gertrude Dudley Scholarship might’ve been the first to advertise itself as such, taking out an ad in a 1973 issue of Parade magazine. The school received over 1,000 applications.

The World Cup ball has had 23 different designs

Adidas has supplied the official ball for the last 15 iterations. The first World Cup final featured two different balls: one provided by Argentina and one supplied by Uruguay. Argentina was winning 2-1 before the balls were switched. Uruguay went on to win the match 4-2.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume

The video ad, starring actress Nicole Kidman, aired in 2004 and cost roughly $33M at the time (when accounting for inflation, that would be roughly $57M in 2026). You can watch the ad spot in full here.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

An Ebola vaccine was developed during the 2018 west African Ebola outbreak, but the 2026 Ebola outbreak is with a different species of the virus, not the one that the vaccine is approved to treat.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Scientists testing how climate change affects plants found, in a years-long simulation study, that poison ivy grew 70% faster with the resulting extra carbon dioxide.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.